DeAndre Jordan ‘Might Leave’ Clippers After Rift With Chris Paul
USA Today
The seemingly epic playoff run for the Los Angeles Clippers has officially come to an end. Chris Paul and company simply couldn’t rebound after a devastating loss in Game 6 to the Houston Rockets. James Harden’s Rockets pulled off an incredible comeback and never looked back with the momentum carrying over to Game 7.
Houston came back from a 3-1 deficit in the series to beat the Clippers and advance to the Western Conference Finals. Now, the Clippers are left with a lot of uncertainty moving forward. The team’s biggest concern is re-signing center DeAndre Jordan who’ll become an unrestricted free agent in July.
According to Bill Reiter of FOX Sports, Jordan’s relationship with Paul may lead him to sign elsewhere this summer:
Sources say Paul’s well-known edginess and drive ground on Jordan’s nerves for much of the year. Contributing to the problem was Paul’s view that Jordan lacked the appropriate commitment to working on his free throws, including not working enough with the Clippers shooting coach on that issue, sources said.
“Things aren’t good there,” a league source familiar with the inner workings of the Clippers organization said. Asked if the issues between the two were serious, the source said, “Oh yeah. (Jordan) might leave. He really might.”
Even before the Clippers had eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs, the rumors began to circulate about Jordan’s desire to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas will be an active participant in NBA free agency during the offseason and will almost certainly gauge Jordan’s interest in returning to his home state of Texas.
Plenty of other teams around the league will likely express interest in signing Jordan with the Los Angeles Lakers also expected to throw their hat into the mix.
Needless to say, Jordan re-signing with the Clippers is nowhere near a done deal. The tension with Paul only makes things that much more interesting with free agency approaching on July 1.
